The album has been anticipated by fans since late July when news of the impending release was revealed in the New York Times, shortly after Apple Music hosted a live-stream on Ocean's website.

It was further teased when Ocean posted a picture of a library book slip showing a range of potential "due dates" and a video of him constructing a spiral staircase.

Frank Ocean has teased fans ahead of the release of his follow-up to Channel Orange

The album has been released with an accompanying glossy magazine, Boys Don't Cry, available from a pop-up shop on London's Charlotte Street, as well as locations in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.

The magazine contains a hard copy of Blonde, according to Billboard, as well as a spread of fashion photographs, poems by Ocean, short stories, an outline for a television show and interviews with his collaborators Lil B and Om'Mas Keith.